Members of Oath Keepers,
a national group that includes current and retired military and law
enforcement personnel, have rejected orders from St. Louis County Police
to abandon posts on top of private businesses that invited their
protection, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday. The order to stand down was issued under presumed authority of a county ordinance prohibiting unlicensed security personnel.

“Once we read the statute, we laughed at it,” local Oath Keepers
leader Sam Andrews commented, explaining the ordinance applies to
employed security personnel. “Then, the next night, we were there.”

The committed presence of Oath Keepers could renew confrontation
dangers, as group founder Stewart Rhodes had earlier cited a report of
members being targeted, presumably by a federal law enforcement sniper team. Per Rhodes, such teams had not communicated with local law enforcement, let alone coordinated activities with them.

Confirming the Post-Dispatch report is an update from Rhodes sent to
members and supporters Wednesday, explaining that, contrary to some
reports, the group did not abandon their posts. The alert also included a letter from an Oath Keepers attorney.

“As retired police officer and Missouri police academy instructor
John Karriman said, we will not, and did not, stop protecting the
buildings and people we had promised to protect,” Rhodes insisted. “We
were there the very next night after being told to stop, and we have
been there every night since. And we will continue to be there until
calm is restored and we are no longer needed.”

“A review of the applicable statutes and regulations makes clear that
the Oath Keepers do not fall under the provisions of St. Louis County
Code ... as suggested by your officers,” attorney Matthew H. Hearne
advised St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar. “To assert that the
property owners of Ferguson
do not have the right to invite the Oath Keepers to assist them would
be tantamount to telling an individual that they do not have the right
to assist a neighbor in need. Additionally the property owners and Oath
Keepers have numerous other Rights guaranteed by the United States
Constitution including the right to freely assemble which may not be
restricted by any County Ordinance or State Statute.”

What will happen next, and if the official response will be through
attorneys or through initiation of force aimed at removing volunteers
from businesses they have been gratefully welcomed to protect, is
unknown at this writing. The one certainty at this time is that no
businesses being guarded by armed guest volunteers actualizing the motto
"Not on our watch" have been attacked or burned while they were standing guard.

This website is dedicated to a renewal of Christian culture. It is inspired by Sir Winston Churchill, a valiant defender of Christian civilization, who believed "we have a great treasure to guard; that the inheritance in our possession represents the prolonged achievement of the centuries." With Churchill, we believe that a "fraternal association" of the English-speaking peoples must "for their own safety and for the good of all walk together in majesty, in justice and in peace.”